Townies

Reviews

Townies Revolver CD

TOWNIES are a band that do no real harm. They’re nice enough folks, and a competent bar rock band who exude a tough grittiness in terms of attitude and aesthetic that just doesn’t make it to the songs themselves. I don’t wish they were meaner, but their sound could use a little genuine nastiness. For a start, the drums and guitar both sound flimsy on these tracks. The guitar in particular just sounds compressed and far away, leaving almost no impact. Vocalist Suzanne Magnuson also comes off as unintentionally camp in her delivery, weighing the band down into an almost musical theater take on garage punk. None of this is offensive or unforgivable, but also maybe that’s what it needs? Otherwise it leaves little impression, a gentle breeze off the coast of punk rock when I’m wanting something that will cause some big waves.

Townies Meet the Townies! CD

Debut full-length effort from this female-fronted band composed of some punk veterans. Unsurprisingly, they’re not shy about their influences, which run the gamut of late ’70s/early ’80s California punk, from the surfy side of the early DEAD KENNEDYS to FEAR (via a spirited cover of “I Don’t Care About You”) and the AVENGERS. All gloriously lo-fi and politically barbed.